The impact of public health programs on economic development. Report of a study of malaria in Thailand.

Abstract

This paper is based on an attempt to describe the economic effects of a health program and to measure these effects. Multiple and complex factors make it difficult to determine the economic value of health investments. This problem of measurement may be solved by considering that any improvement of health means an increase and any deterioration of health indicates a decrease in the working capacities of the labor force. This paper suggests that death and disease cause losses of working time and gross domestic product (GDP). The example presented relates to malaria and to the effects of the malaria eradication program in Thailand. For the computation of economic losses due to malaria mortality and morbidity, a model was constructed in which the main variables are combined. The computations show the GDP lost year by year by the agricultural laborers who die or are sick as a result of malaria. The losses of GDP are calculated over a period of 12 years. Their downward trend is attributed to the impact (benefits) of the malaria eradication program. A separate series of computations (Table 2) indicates the economic losses of GDP that would be expected in the absence of a malaria eradication program.